Alongside a photograph of the two stereotypical cake categories, Dillon wrote: “Dear Waitrose, really? I get that many of the cakes appear on both lists. But, in addition, girls get pink castles, cupcakes and handbags, boys get fire engines, pirates and all the sports.”

“Where’s the hockey and netball to alongside the football etc? For everyone btw as girls and boys play ALL sports,” one wrote [sic]. “Some people must still want to be able to search by ‘boys’ or ‘girls’ which is why it’s filtered as such. But by doing so W (Waitrose) are deciding which apply to who. Sigh.”

“Let’s stop reinforcing gender stereotypes, especially when it comes to cake,” another added.

In response to the backlash, Waitrose apologised via Twitter.

Hi Louise. Thanks for flagging. We apologise sincerely if we’ve caused offence, we’d never want to do that. Our cakes are for everyone to enjoy and we’ve changed our website to make that clear.

“Hi Louise. Thanks for flagging,” the company wrote. “We apologise sincerely if we’ve caused offence, we’d never want to do that. Our cakes are for everyone to enjoy and we’ve changed our website to make that clear.”